(no subject)

[stainless]

Posted his to Tumblr but Tumblr is Tumblr, so...

What does the term “aspirational class” mean? Because I can’t tell, and I don’t want to go off and be incorrect.

But I will say that prima facie it leaves a sour taste in my mouth because it sounds like it implies only rich people have aspirations.

It may be the case that part of the reason I hope to change the world someday is that a lot of gen x was raised with the message that we could and should (thanks Mom!), but... I’m troubled by the idea it’s all class and not at all personality.

Comments

[yvannairie]

What context did that term crop up in? Economic?

[stainless]

I can’t seem to find the post again, but it was a quote someone posted on Tumblr that was talking about Trump voters and why they think “the elites” are out of touch. (Like, not saying Trump voters were right, but rather “of course the aspirational class doesn’t understand their anxieties, because x y z”)

I hadn’t seen the term “the aspirational class” and it seemed like an odd word to pick—does that mean rural working class people tend not to have aspirations, or is it referring to a specific kind of aspiration?

Again, I wish I could find the quote, because I’m sure that would help. But it’s got something to do with the framing of certain people as “liberal elites” and the “aspirational” made it sound (to me, not knowing context) that it was implying “elites have lofty personal success goals and regular people don’t.”

Which was interesting to me as someone who has always been pretty ambitious (though I want influence, not necessarily money. I think I have important things to say and do and I want to be able to do that, whether through my books or advocacy or something else.)

Made me wonder “is this my class talking, or my personality?”

[yvannairie]

My instinctive read of that term is "the (presumably socio-economic) class people aspire to be", actually -- essentially just another way of saying "the people we think are living the American Dream(tm) and being ungrateful about it". Like, it's a thing with right-wing Americans to talk about poor people like they're either people who haven't yet succeeded in becoming millionaires, or who are too lazy to "aspire" towards success.

[stainless]

Looks like it may actually be referring to liberals, from this reply I got on the tumb:

http://gattsuru.tumblr.com/post/181993457649/what-does-the-term-aspirational-class-mean

I... don't always understand what that person is getting at, though.

[yvannairie]

Based on that I'd say it's a more "fucking liberals" way of calling someone a social climber :|c like, looking at middle-class hipsterism and projecting assumptions about motivation on it.

[stainless]

yeah, that's what i think it means.

[gingerspark]

Middle class people who want to be upper class, in my experience. It's derogatory, usually. But this is the UK, where wanting to be or pretending to be a different social class to the one you are is socially unacceptable. Specifically social class. It's fine to want to be richer, it's not fine to want to fit in at eg. an upper middle class dinner party if you're working class.

[stainless]

Ah, okay. I think I’m confused about possible ambiguity in “aspirational.” Is the idea that some people specifically aspire to be higher class (what you’re saying), or the idea that aspirations in general are only considered acceptable if you’re above a certain class? I read it as the second thing—like, “you liberal elites think you run the country and can do whatever you want, us salt of the earth know you’re full of shit. So we voted for Trump.”

[gingerspark]

It really depends on context, and UK class discourse doesn't translate that well to the US?
If it's someone talking about a higher status group, it's derogatory because they're trying to be better than they are. Basically accusing the "aspirational class" of being class traitors?
But it's really vague and could mean a few things. In context, I think it's about social class divide. Working class people disparaging middle class people for not accepting their place and believing in the american dream? But it's a middle class person talking about it.

[stainless]

This person seems familiar with it, and it sounds more like what I thought if they're right. But I don't completely get what they're saying either:

http://gattsuru.tumblr.com/post/181993457649/what-does-the-term-aspirational-class-mean

[caiusmajor]

Huh, I would have parsed "aspirational class" as "the class that people aspire to be in" rather than "the class of people who aspire" but I'm not sure if I've ever seen the phrase.

[stainless]

Looks like this person has, though I don't fully understand them:

http://gattsuru.tumblr.com/post/181993457649/what-does-the-term-aspirational-class-mean